Project Zomboid is the ultimate in zombie survival. Alone or in MP: you loot, build, craft, fight, farm and fish in a struggle to survive. A hardcore RPG skillset, a vast map, a massively customisable sandbox and a cute tutorial raccoon await the unwary. So how will you die?

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Early Access Game

Get instant access and start playing; get involved with this game as it develops.

Note: This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you
should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“Project Zomboid is a much more ambitious game than we could ever have hoped to fund ourselves. It has grown massively over the years, and it’s been a rollercoaster, but find ourselves in a stable financial situation with an overwhelmingly positive reaction from the Steam community. We hope you will join us, but if not we understand. If you're not ready to jump in yet, then please consider us when we break out of Early Access.

How often do we update the community?

We have weekly newsletters, known as 'Mondoid's, which we publish on our site and as a Steam announcement every Monday (unsurprisingly) as a small tonic to the depressing 'back to work' feeling. These detail what we've been up to during the week, often with sneak peeks of upcoming features, interviews, videos and all that goodness. We've had an unbroken chain of Mondoids for a long time now, and plan to continue them as long as Project Zomboid is developed. We also communicate with our community directly on our own forums and Steam forums, often with changelists for upcoming builds.

How often do we update?

We have a reputation that seems to diverge greatly when it comes to update frequency depending on who you ask. Many consider our game frequently updated, some consider us slow. In recent times it’s rare we don’t have a release within a month (including beta releases), and these always contain new gameplay features or major tweaks to the gameplay.

Some features, particularly NPCs, have taken a long time to implement. This is largely out of our commitment to getting the features right and them not disappointing on release, but it should be noted that we make no apology for delaying their release until we feel they would be enjoyed, live up to people’s expectations, and most importantly do not have a detrimental effect on the gameplay or stability of the game.

We will admit to a few long waits between updates in the past, but we feel from community feedback that the majority of our customers are very satisfied with the development of the game. It should be pointed out too that the game has significant modding support, with map editors and full unrestricted lua modding access. We have a vibrant modding community that can help plug the gap between updates. It should also be taken into consideration that the game is already very far through development, to the point where we now have 1900+ hour players - There is a lot of content to enjoy in the game already and we firmly and proudly believe it worth its current price as it stands. Please consider reading some reviews if you are still unsure about the content of the game or the release frequency.

Details of major milestones can be found below.

What is required for 1.0?

Two major features are yet to be implemented into the game, both of which are currently in full-time development each with dedicated full-time developer support. These are:

NPCS - A far reaching and in-depth NPC system with character relationships, personalities, and an emergent story engine that allows for diverse and emergent character based zombie survival story unique to every playthrough. This also includes the tutorial, a return of Kate and Baldspot who starred in the early alphas of the game.

Several features require either significant modifications, rewrites or completion before we could consider 1.0.

Map completion - We still have a major city, an army base, more wilderness, and several small towns to implement to the game map.

UI Rewrite - The UI isn’t perfect by any stretch. We would like to get a more intuitive and ergonomic UI system implemented.

Stealth / Combat - New animations to allow for stealth mechanics (looking round corners, crouching behind walls, cover etc) as well as a rewrite of the combat system to leverage new animations to make combat more involved, intuitive and fluid.

We want to have all this in the can this year. However, we tend to avoid ETAs because Early Access development in particular is often filled with unknowns and we want to ensure we get these highly anticipated features right.

In the meantime however we will continue to update the game and provide new features for our community to play with. One of our developers full time responsibility is providing frequent and new items, crafting recipes, skills and survival gameplay elements to fill out any holes in gameplay, and provide frequent feature rich game updates in line with community feedback, while the other developers focus on finishing these specific remaining major features.

What happens at this point depends entirely on whether the game is making money or not, but given the past solid performance of the game we see no reason why it shouldn’t be. Several developers within the team will likely start exploring our second project at this point, however we have dedicated and passionate developers who were brought into the company via the Project Zomboid modding community, emotionally invested in the game, who are already a big part of the development and communicating with the community. As long as Project Zomboid is making enough to support their continued development of the game, and they are happy to continue working on it (which seems likely), we will continue making Project Zomboid indefinitely as long as there is interest.

That all said, we can’t make any solid promises beyond the 1.0 mark, however there are countless things we would love to do that go way beyond 1.0 and sales make us confident that we’ll get the opportunity to explore them. Truth be told, given that it was Zomboid that put the money in the bank in the first place, as long as our company is secure and we can fund any other project's development comfortably, it's very probable we'd be willing to put some money back into the game beyond the point it's sustaining itself if there are any features in particular we can't bear to leave out of the game. Words are wind though, and all we can do is guess where we'll all be by then. We really want to keep this train going as long as we can though, as long as it continues to the benefit of the game. At which point the modders will hopefully take the mantle with almost unlimited access to the game's core.

Development Costs

Here we hope to give you a better idea of how the sales revenue from Project Zomboid will support development of the game. While we will keep particular developers salaries confidential, we would like to offer a breakdown of developer and office locations, along with the average rent costs, reported on http://www.numbeo.com/ for the Indie Stone offices, along with each developer's location to give you an idea of relative studio costs. It's become clear to us recently how significantly this factors into Early Access games chance of continuing development and we hope others will follow suit in divulging this information.

All percentages are in comparison to New York City (100%) - Other examples would be San Francisco (98.66%), London (93.81%), Moscow (52.71%) and Delhi (9.53%). The lower the % the further your purchase of an Early Access game will go to fund development (or more crucially how long that money will last), as accommodation costs correlate pretty closely with expected salaries and costs of living and working in that location. (Please note that in several cases the developer lives sufficiently outside the given city to make the actual %s likely much lower than reported)

3x Developers + Office
Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom - 32.37%

1x Developer
Brighton, United Kingdom - 56.37%

1x Developer
Toronto, Canada - 51.78%

1x Developer
Surrey, Canada - 30.87%

1x Developer
Lille, France - 31.59%

Monthly development costs are currently recouped within approximately the first 1.5 weeks of the month on average, which means at present each month produces extra funds to further develop the game should sales dry up. This does not include sales or other promotions.

What if PZ stopped making any money tomorrow?

The Indie Stone have made sufficient sales since launch on Early Access to ensure that if the game stopped selling any copies tomorrow, the entire PZ dev team could carry on funded development as at present, with no reduction in workforce, for at least the next two years, potentially longer. This would not be an ideal situation for us, of course, but we are committed to finishing every major planned feature before we consider moving the game to 1.0. Considering the financial situation we are in at present, the chances we will not be able to fund the remaining development of the game are quite small.

In the worst (and least likely) possible of financial cases that required the disbandment of all paid developers of the game, 4 of the listed developers are directors of The Indie Stone with an invested interest in the success of the game and company, who would cut their income significantly and/or supplement development of the game with other work to get through any financial difficulties. Despite this no doubt causing progress to slow significantly, the 4 directors hold all required skills to continue development of the game during this nightmare scenario.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“See above!”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“See above!”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“See above!”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“It will likely be £5, $8 more expensive once we hit 1.0. Due to our commitment to making sure early adopters get the cheapest price in appreciation of their early support, we will never appear on bundles, or in sales that take it to or below the original alpha price of £5, $8 until a long time post 1.0. This commitment also means that, until 1.0 and the price increase, we will never be willing to go beyond a 40% sale.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

In the words of Turbo: “There can be 2 of these panels open at max, one for a radio in inventory and one for the radio/tv’s in world. The panels have modular subpanels that can be loaded depending on device type. Shown in vid are the basic panels, other optional panels will include tape, VHS tape, scanner etc.”

And the ball goes to RJ! He’s working on some new things to do with botany. We’ll release more details soon, but for now we’ll just that that it will have some big implications for those who like to rough it in the wilderness.

Noooo don’t pass the ball back to me! Quick, what other news do we have?

This week in Creative, we’ve managed to get better landscaping tools into the game. This will allow you to do nice paths, roads, grass and mud patches and for it to blend seamlessly as you paint. We were planning on holding off on this feature, however it became clear it was a must to be able to quickly make larger areas.

And in case you missed it, here’s a replay of SirTWiggy’s livestream using Creative mode to build TwiggyVille from the ground up (please excuse bugs/crashes). Highlights include building playgrounds near a highway, and a school next to a bar and gun store. What fantastic violations of zoning codes will YOU create in Creative mode?

Reviews

“What can I say? This game's interface looks so simplistic by today's standards, and yet the Indie Stone team has managed to possibly create one of the best post-apocalyptic zombie survival games in existence to date.”
Max Power! (105 hrs)

“The gameplay is surprisingly addicting, sometimes I look at the clock and wonder where the last 4 hours went, but looking at my fort shows me where they went.”
syfy2K4 (1,021 hrs)

About This Game

Project Zomboid is an open-ended zombie-infested sandbox. It asks one simple question – how will you die?

In the towns of Muldraugh and West Point, survivors must loot houses, build defences and do their utmost to delay their inevitable death day by day. No help is coming – their continued survival relies on their own cunning, luck and ability to evade a relentless horde.

Current Features

Hardcore Sandbox Zombie Survival Game with a focus on realistic survival.

Online multiplayer survival with persistent player run servers.

Hundreds of zombies with swarm mechanics and in-depth visual and hearing systems.

Full line of sight system and real-time lighting, sound and visibility mechanics. Hide in the shadows, keep quiet and keep the lights off at night, or at least hang sheets over the windows.

Vast and growing map (loosely based on a real world location) for you to explore, loot and set up your fortress. Check out Blindcoder’s map project: http://pzmap.crash-override.net/

Use tools and items to craft weapons, barricade and cook. You can even build zombie proof forts by chopping trees, sawing wood and scavenging supplies.

Deal with depression, boredom, hunger, thirst and illness while trying to survive.

-Roll new character-Search house I start off in-Find Sledgehammer, mint condition-F*ck-Sh*t-Up Mode activated-Survive many a day slaying countless zombies-Come across big house with big yard and big garage, I want it-Dozen zombies litter the property-FSU-Mode never disengaged, clear property same day-Search house, underwhelmed with findings and interior decor, decide to move on-Still feel invincible, decide to search smaller house down the street-Enter confidently (read: carelessly) through window, jumped by lone zombie and subsequently bitten-Douse arm in disinfectant and wrap with clean rag, hope for the best-Best doesn't happen, health deteriorates, fast-Decide to go out in glory, storm nearby storage facility that apparently doubles as a zombie hangout spot-Fell innumerable zombies before finally succumbing to fatal fever-Come back as zombie and chill with my new dead homies

No matter how good you think you are in zombie games, you're not in this one. You're no Frank West/Chuck Greene/Leon Kennedy/Chris Redfield or whatever other zed video game hero you aspire to. You're just.. you. EVERYTHING is measured against you: hunger, thirst, sleep deprivation, physical exhaustion, heat/cold, panic, anxiety, happiness, and even boredom. Manage them all or suffer. And finally a game where you're at risk of infection. It's an entirely different experience and one that I'd definitely recommend to any fan of the genre.

To give you a little bit of insight as to the type of person this review is coming from.I have played a good number of Zombie Apocolypse games with and without the survival element and am a big fan of the genre/concept.One of my favorite story(s), accounts, or portrayals of this genre would have to be World War Z (the book by Max Brooks, the movie is rubbish in comparision).

No it is not perfect I would not try to tell you otherwise, I see people on the forums who are having issues installing or running the game for various reasons. Personally I had no trouble at all, it runs great except for occasionally closes out of the game completely upon exiting out of the current game, which should have brought me to the main menu.

It is often easy to forget that this game is still in early access. While there are many exciting items and features planned for the future, the game feels and plays almost like a finished game.

Here are some features in the game at the time of this review that I like and/or appreciate and feel add a substantial amount to the immersion of Project Zomboid.

-Crafting & Barricading.-*Combining.-Day & Night cycle.-Logical loot distribution. In other words you will find loot in places that make sense in the world.-Hunger & Thirst system.-character creation process. Play as a male or femle, name them, choose a pre apocolypse profession (each profession comes with bonuses) or unemployed, plus give them merits and flaws. (I am paraphrasing here, I forget what they are called in game).-Weather (rain, snow) and yes, seasons!-Temperature system.-The ability to create your own "custom sandbox" zombie apocolypse-Upgrading and repairing. Bat+hammer+nails=Spiked Baseball bat, then use tools to repair it when needed.-Item conditions. Weapons get damaged and then eventually break.-Functional L.O.S. (Line of Sight) for both players and Zombies. In other words you can only see the zombies in the direction your character is facing.-Multiplayer. Lots of Servers to join.-Skill system where if you want to improve a skill, you have to keep using it...and live long enough to improve it! Also you can read books related to skills for a xp boost when said skill is used.*Combining. Example A: I already have a kitchen knife and a jar of peanut butter. Find some bread, use the knife to cut the bread, knife+sliced bread+peanut butter=peanut butter sandwiches.

Example B: Enter a house that still has power. Already have a frying pan equipped. Look in the refrigerator. Frying pan+chicken+peas (perhaps with a dash of salt and/or pepper, optional) = chicken and vegetable stir fry. Turn on the stove, place the stir fry in the pan on the stove, cook, and yum!

Honestly I am glad I paid full price. Yeah I know it might sound crazy, it was just on sale not long ago but honestly the devs deserve every cent.

I would easily give this game in its current state a 9/10. *Important* Just keep one thing in mind, this game is hard. Actually for those who may not know, you CANNOT win. There is no cure for the zombie virus and I am not sure if that will ever change. Playing Project Zomboid is playing out the story of a character, the story of how they died. This may be a deal breaker for some, which is why I bring it up. There is no way to 'WIN" the game, you just survive as long as you can.

I don't know how I got into this. Not long ago, I was an aspiring cinematographer that just finished his work on a movie soon to be released; had a party with my wonderful friends to celebrate the wrap. Was about to propose to my girlfriend, Liz.But now, I am all alone. It's a weird, terrible feeling to know you are alone in this world. It reminds me of the moment when I got lost at a mall, separated from my mom when I was a little child.Noone's there to give me a hug, to cheer me up, to dry my tears.

All my friends, my family, my colleagues turned into these terrible, mindless creatures that run after me and just have one thing in their minds: to disembowel me. Why am I still alive at all? It just doesn't make any sense to me.

I need to leave our...I mean my house, all windows are broken and these monsters are just awaiting the moment I fall asleep to get me.

July 24rd 2015

I just found out that my neighbors fled to the north as I'm reading their note directed to their daughter who was expected to come home from college. I found her, in pieces on the floor and wallpaper. What a tragedy, she was so beautiful and smart.

I knew her dad likes to drink so I took his whiskey and a few blankets. Maybe they get handy one day.

I found a house to live in; but I don't feel safe- I need more blankets to disguise the windows. Luckily, the former owner had a good storage of food.

Ok, I will f***ing leave... just needed to kill five zombies- this area is polluted with these rats an I was wounded on my right hand.Used the whisky to disinfect and blankets to bandage. Hopefully, it will help.... hopefully? Or isn't it better to die? I feel the urge to make a rope out of the blankets I found...

July 25rd 2015

I finally found a small, secure house. In the surrounding houses I found enough stuff to close the windows. I expected it would be difficult but in each house I found their owners turned to monsters. I don't know how many people I killed. Men, woman and even kids. Although I have a rather safe place to sleep, I feel like if each minute a small part of me dies.

While accessing a house I cut both of my forearms on broken glas, I aches like hell. And finally, I accidentally triggered an alarm and there are hundreds of zombies around. I can't hear that sirene anymore. Hopefully, its battery dies soon. I feel like a kid when I press my face into the pillow just not to hear that terrible noise of zombies scratching on the outside of my shelter.I'd like to drink the whisky to raise my mood but I need to keep it to clean my wounds.

July 26rd 2015

I spotted a zombie waiting on my front door. I thought it would be the best to kill it, but I didn't recognize another one just around the corner.I killed both but I'm heavily wounded. I don't think I will make it.If this is the last record you read- I'm Dan, 34. Liz, I'm coming back to you.